Letters to the editor

Republicans love playing games with the memory of Americans, pretending theirs is still the party of Lincoln. I hate to tell our GOP friends, but the party of Lincoln switched sides to the Democrats a long, long time ago, perhaps even before the Dixiecrats all registered to become Republicans. I don’t believe Abraham Lincoln and Strom Thurmond would have fun sleeping in the same room, let alone the same bed. Especially not when people like Steve Bannon crawl in.

No, the GOP has been the party of Trump for quite some time, even before Donald Trump became president. The election of our current commander in chief merely proved the point. Indeed, Trump is less like Lincoln and more like the man on the moon, particularly if the man on the moon is made of green cheese, cows jump over it with regularity, you are more than 5 years old and still believe in such nonsense. Such is the typical Republican these days. Not at all Lincolnesque.

Memory also lapses when it comes to the economy. The looming tax reform congressional Republicans are touting in vague but glorious rhetoric is more extreme than that legislated in 2001, which collapsed our economy in 2007. Businesses took their gains east and west around the world rather than investing in jobs here, as anticipated. Incomes for rich and poor plummeted. Real estate values hit rock bottom. With this wonderful new, more extreme “reform,” the richest 1/10 of 1 percent will take two-thirds of the gains. The GOP says they will “simplify” the 1040A. Hooray! But, how? By removing all those nasty line-item deductions for mortgage payments, child credits, health care, etc. Good luck, middle-class earners.

These GOP ideologues haven’t a clue. They jump over the moon, land in your lap, smile with a hand out. Typical Republicans vote yes.

Alan Asnen

Lexington

Accountability in the city

Do you know who the Jackson-Madison County Hospital or Jackson Energy Authority board members are?

Would the recent Jackson, Madison County property tax increase pale in comparison to the public money these boards spend annually? The hospital board is appointed by the Madison County Commission and the Jackson City Council on a rotating basis. While the City of Jackson no longer owns JEA, and a sizable portion of their customers live outside Jackson proper, the City Council appoints its board exclusively from within the city boundaries.

What examination process do these prospective board members go through by their respective political, appointing bodies? Given their public obligations, are there job qualifications or a job description?

When we, of necessity, pay our hospital/utility bills, where does the money go? Doesn’t it depend on the mentioned boards and, ultimately, the politicians who appointed them? JMCGH/JEA operating charters are crafted and approved by our state politicians who act at the behest of JMCGH/JEA and the local political bodies. These charters give each board wide, and some might say unusual, discretion to spend our dollars. These charters are available to the public.

Are these discretions stretched in a lot of cases to fund projects, far outside the normally accepted role of a utility or hospital? If needed, aren’t these projects/issues what our local politicians should be campaigning on? Is public input and awareness basically removed from the present process?

Given their public responsibilities, would it be a good idea to publicly elect these boards?

Do the existing procedures sell short, individual initiative, private enterprise and circumvent the existing safeguards of the election process? If these factors were allowed to play out, would the choices we make be better supported by the public, more lasting and less costly?

Shouldn’t JMCGH/JEA be the very best they can be doing their core duties, without having to worry about the resulting political, geographic and social engineering components now involved?

The electoral process and private initiative are not always the fastest means to an end, but hopefully most would agree, they ensure less political/government involvement while trying to fairly represent us all.